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THEODORE AND HONORIA.

FROM BOCCACE.

Of all the cities in Romanian lands,

The chief and most renown'd Ravenna stands :
Adorn'd in ancient times with arms and arts,
And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts.
But Theodore the Brave, above the rest,
With gifts of fortune and of nature bless'd,
The foremost place for wealth and honour held,
And all in feats of chivalry excell'd.

This noble youth to madness loved a dame
Of high degree, Honoria was her name:
Fair as the fairest, but of haughty mind,
And fiercer than became so soft a kind;
Proud of her birth (for equal she had none),
The rest she scorn'd; but hated him alone.
His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gain'd;
For she, the more he loved, the more disdain'd:
He lived with all the pomp he could devise,
At tilts and tournaments obtain❜d the prize,
But found no favour in his lady's eyes:
Relentless as a rock, the lofty maid
Turn'd all to poison that he did or said:

Nor prayers, nor tears, nor offer'd vows could move; The work went backward; and the more he strove To advance his suit, the further from her love.

Wearied at length, and wanting remedy,
He doubted oft, and oft resolved to die :
But pride stood ready to prevent the blow;
For who would die to gratify a foe?
His generous mind disdain'd so mean a fate;
That pass'd, his next endeavour was to hate.
But vainer that relief than all the rest,

The less he hoped, with more desire possess'd;
Love stood the siege, and would not yield his breast.
Change was the next, but change deceived his care;
He sought a fairer, but found none so fair.
He would have worn her out by slow degrees,
As men by fasting starve the untamed disease:
But present love required a present ease.
Looking, he feeds alone his famish'd eyes,
Feeds lingering death; but looking not, he dies.
Yet still he chose the longest way to fate,
Wasting at once his life and his estate.

His friends beheld, and pitied him in vain;
For what advice can ease a lover's pain?
Absence, the best expedient they could find,
Might save the fortune, if not cure the mind:
This means they long proposed, but little gain'd;
Yet, after much pursuit, at length obtain'd.

Hard you may think it was to give consent,
But, struggling with his own desires, he went :
With large expense, and with a pompous train
Provided, as to visit France or Spain,

Or for some distant voyage o'er the main.
But Love had clipp'd his wings, and cut him short;
Confined within the purlieus of his court:
Three miles he went, no further could retreat;
His travels ended at his country seat.

To Chassis' pleasing plains he took his way,
There pitch'd his tents, and there resolved to stay.
The spring was in the prime; the neighbouring

grove

Supplied with birds, the choristers of love;
Music unbought, that minister'd delight

To morning walks, and lull'd his cares by night.
There he discharged his friends; but not the expense
Of frequent treats, and proud magnificence.
He lived as kings retire, though more at large
From public business, yet with equal charge;
With house and heart still open to receive;
As well content as love would give him leave:
He would have lived more free; but many a guest,
Who could forsake the friend, pursued the feast.
It happ'd one morning, as his fancy led,
Before his usual hour he left his bed,
To walk within a lonely lawn, that stood
On every side surrounded by the wood:
Alone he walk'd, to please his pensive mind,
And sought the deepest solitude to find:
'Twas in a grove of spreading pines he stray'd;
The winds within the quivering branches play'd,
And dancing trees a mournful music made.
The place itself was suiting to his care,
Uncouth and savage, as the cruel fair.
He wander'd on, unknowing where he went,
Lost in the wood, and all on love intent.
The day already half his race had run,
And summon'd him to due repast at noon;
But love could feel no hunger but his own.

Whilst listening to the murmuring leaves he stood,

More than a mile immersed within the wood,

D

At once the wind was laid; the whispering sound
Was dumb: a rising earthquake rock'd the ground!
With deeper brown the grove was overspread:
A sudden horror seized his giddy head,
And his ears tinkled, and his colour fied.
Nature was in alarm; some danger nigh
Seem'd threaten'd, though unseen to mortal eye.
Unused to fear, he summon'd all his soul,
And stood collected in himself, and whole:
Not long; for soon a whirlwind rose around,
And from afar he heard a screaming sound,
As of a dame distress'd, who cried for aid,
And fill'd with loud laments the secret shade.
A thicket close beside the grove there stood,
With briers and brambles choked, and dwarfish

wood :

From thence the noise, which now approaching near,
With more distinguish'd notes invades his ear.
He raised his head, and saw a beauteous maid,
With hair dishevell'd, issuing through the shade;
Stripp'd of her clothes, and ev'n those parts reveal'd
Which modest nature keeps from sight conceal'd.
Her face, her hands, her naked limbs were torn,
With passing through the brakes and prickly thorn :
Two mastiffs gaunt and grim her flight pursued,
And oft their fasten'd fangs in blood embrued :
Oft they came up, and pinch'd her tender side.
'Mercy, O mercy, Heaven!' she ran, and cried.
When Heaven was named they loosed their hold
again;

Then sprung she forth, they follow'd her amain.
Not far behind, a knight of swarthy face,
High on a coal-black steed pursued the chase;

With flashing flames his ardent eyes were fill'd,
And in his hands a naked sword he held :
He cheer'd the dogs to follow her who fled,
And vow'd revenge on her devoted head.
As Theodore was born of noble kind,
The brutal action roused his manly mind.
Moved with unworthy usage of the maid,
He, though unarm'd, resolved to give her aid.
A sapling pine he wrench'd from out the ground,
The readiest weapon that his fury found.
Thus furnish'd for offence, he cross'd the way
Betwixt the graceless villain and his prey.

The knight came thundering on, but from afar,
Thus, in imperious tone, forbad the war :
'Cease, Theodore, to proffer vain relief,
Nor stop the vengeance of so just a grief;
But give me leave to seize my destined prey,
And let eternal justice take the way!
I but revenge my fate; disdain'd, betray'd,
And suffering death for this ungrateful maid.'

He said, at once dismounting from the steed; For now the hell-hounds, with superior speed, Had reach'd the dame; and, fastening on her side, The ground with issuing streams of purple dyed. Stood Theodore surprised in deadly fright, With chattering teeth and bristling hair upright; Yet, arm'd with inborn worth, Whate'er,' said he, 'Thou art, who know'st me better than I thee, Or prove thy rightful cause, or be defied!' The spectre, fiercely staring, thus replied

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Know, Theodore, thy ancestry I claim,
And Guido Cavalcanti was my name :
One common sire our fathers did beget;
My name and story some remember yet.

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